


got me tripping, falling, with no safety net

by lostinthesounds



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, but they’re lovesick fools regardless, jatp appreciation day one!, julie gets sick and then gets luke sick, literally all fluff, oh look at that it’s a fic made by jen where she doesn’t put y’all through some pain, sharing a bed trope, sick comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:34:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27361318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostinthesounds/pseuds/lostinthesounds
Summary: Luke notices that Julie is sick before anyone else. It was in the middle of November, and the band was practicing in the garage like they always do.Julie gets sick and Luke can’t say no when she asks him to stay with her to make her feel better. He doesn’t know much how this ghost thing works after death, but neither of them have an answer when Luke gets sick two days after that night.JATP Appreciation Week (Day One): Favorite Character POV
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 265
Collections: JATP Appreciation Week





	got me tripping, falling, with no safety net

**Author's Note:**

> dedicated to my lovely friends: essie, lai, ly and taylor for pushing me to get a fic out today to participate in the first day of JATP APPRECIATION WEEK to write from my favorite boy Luke’s POV !! 
> 
> Essie, you’re an absolute queen for helping put this together and I’m so happy I was able to make something tonight. I hope it’s not terrible, truly haha, but please enjoy and I’m gonna try to participate everyday this week! So keep up with the details on tumblr <3
> 
> feel free to leave kudos, comments or anything that shows me that you love the fic! for anyone that read my last palina fic......I may have something along the lines of a sequel to it to post sometime in the next few days so look out *runs away* thank you for reading!

Luke notices that Julie is sick before anyone else. It was in the middle of November, and the band was practicing in the garage like they always do. She was wearing a large pink sweatshirt borrowed from Alex, and ever since he and the boys realized they could switch from solid to ghost-like, they appreciated the chill of the night that they haven’t felt in years. The sweatshirt wasn’t the thing that set him off, because it was cold and they were all wearing jackets even in an insulated garage. 

  
  


The box of tissues and constant sniffing was the thing that got him worrisome. 

  
  


When he first heard the hoarseness of her voice when they first begun practice after school, he told Julie just to stick to playing piano for the songs they already knew. They got through finally free, edge of great with a permanent guitar riff change, and a new song that would’ve sounded great as a duet….if Julie hadn’t been keeping back a fit of coughs every time she opened her mouth. 

  
  


“Jules, you don’t have to be here.” Luke says, giving up and setting his guitar down to pace towards the piano bench. He kneels down next to her, he takes her cold hand and tries to warm her up by rubbing their hands together. She shakes her head, but he presses on. “You sound like you’re getting sick and it’s definitely warmer in your room.” 

  
  
  


“I’m fine.” She clears her throat, squeezing his hand in reassurance. It wasn’t working. Julie looks up and Luke bites his lip in worry when he sees the darkened circles under her eyes and the redness under her nose. “It’s insulated in here, and it’s fifty degrees outside. It’s gonna be cold anywhere.” 

  
  


It wasn’t going to change his mind. 

  
  


Luke stands as the boys stop playing behind him, and soon enough, all of them crowded around the piano to comfort Julie and try to convince her to stop. 

  
  


“Come on guys, it’s okay.” Julie reaches for the tissue box, frowning when the box empties and looks to the space next to the piano bench where the small trash can was placed. It was full now, and she knew it wasn’t good. Luke knew her too well to know that she was hiding the agony of being sick, and now she didn’t have any more tissues, she would be screwed. “Let’s just get through practice then I’ll go relax.” 

  
  


“You’re sick, Jules.” Alex said, setting a hand on her shoulder. “Your bed and blankets is much warmer than a sweatshirt that you’re wearing in a garage.” 

  
  


Julie sniffled, fingers hovering over the keys as she fought the urge to listen to her boys. Luke knew she didn’t want to be weak, and he knows that getting sick sucks, and that she didn’t want to cave into the feeling of desperation when her body felt heavy with exhaustion. 

  
  


It’s silent for a moment, and he held his breath. 

  
  


“Fine.” Julie croaked, closing the piano cover. “I’ll go lay down.” 

  
  


“See that wasn’t hard, now was it?” Reggie added, and Luke held back a laugh. 

  
  


She swayed a bit when standing from the bench, but Luke was always there to catch her if she fell. He doesn’t miss the growing smirks from Alex and Reggie, instead too focused on holding Julie’s waist and keeping her close to him as he guides her towards the door. 

  
  


“Will you stay with me?” Julie asked him, holding onto his shoulder as he opened the garage door to let the cold air wash over them. She’s holding back a shiver when she tensed up next to him, and he felt his heart soar into the sky when she inched closer to him. “I don’t wanna be alone _and_ sick.” 

  
“Yeah, of course I will.”   
  


He leads her up the steps slowly, and watches her pull the hood and tug on the strings of Alex’s pink sweatshirt so it covers more of her face. 

  
  


“Why’d you come to practice today if you’re feeling sick?” He asked her softly as he twisted the door knob to open up the front door to a quiet house, both of them thankful that her dad and Carlos had been at parent teacher conferences for the night. 

  
  


It may have been a few months of them figuring out the whole “ _solid to ghost thing_ ” and in that time, an awkward conversation with Julie’s dad after they revealed they were ghosts, but they came to realize that as long as they were with Julie, they didn’t need to try to be solid. They weren’t only ghosts around her anymore, they were human like. And for Luke, that was scary. 

  
  


Neither of them wanted to explain to her dad that she was feeling sick because it would take too much effort in the state she was in. 

  
  


Luke didn’t have a problem with touch. As a matter of fact, he needed it for comfort and reassurance for most stressful situations—like before a gig, or if he was feeling angry—but it was different with a girl that he was falling for. He didn’t worry so much about his feelings for Julie when he was ghost during the first month of their friendship because he was fine watching from afar. He was fine on the sidelines as long as he got to see her and share special moments with her on stage. 

  
  


But then those special moments on stage turned into special moments _off_ stage….in the garage, in her living room after a night of cuddling while watching a movie, when they’re huddled together on the couch writing lyrics to a song. 

  
  


It was scary for him. The thing called _love_. 

  
  
  


“Flynn tried getting me to go home earlier at school, but I didn’t wanna worry her.” Julie coughed into her elbow, and Luke was the one to lightly kick at her door to open it so they could walk inside her bedroom without too much struggle. He looks around, relieved to see her bed free of the mess she usually has up here. 

  
  


She just finished her midterms last week, and her room was a frenzy of textbooks and notes for days. 

  
  


“Well now you’ve worried the band, so maybe Flynn was right.” He was trying to tease, but he doesn’t realize it came off wrong until Julie’s response. 

  
  


“Great, now I have three people that are gonna make me feel guilty about being sick and not doing anything about it.” Julie pushes on her temples with the pads of her fingers, standing next to her bed as Luke fluffs up her pillows to be nice. He looks up with furrowed brows, confused as to why she should feel guilty about anything when it wasn’t her fault. 

  
  


“Julie?” Luke asks, hesitant to reach forward and grab her arms to put them to rest at her side. He had to get through to her. He tugs at her hands to pull them away from her face, and exhales gently when he notices the tears on her cheeks. “It’s not your fault. We were only worried because we care for you. Flynn cares for you, so does Alex and Reg. We love you, Julie. If you don’t feel good, then we should know.” 

He doesn't dare mention his own feelings, knowing it would be too easy to read between the lines of whatever dancing on _the_ line they've been doing for so long.   
  


“I hate feeling sick.” Julie admitted after rubbing and wiping at her tired eyes. He takes a good look at her, with her pink sweatshirt and black sweatpants and messy hair that simply makes her look adorable, and knows how hard it must be on her to take a break. “I don’t remember the last time I got sick, Luke. Its where I feel more vulnerable and defeated, and I don’t have my—“ 

  
  


He knows what she’s gonna say, and it would hurt more for her if he let her say it aloud. 

  
  


“Shhh, it’s okay.” He tells her, hands cupping her face and lets his cold hands offer any comfort he could to her burning temperature. “I know it sucks. I know you feel bad. But I’m here, and if there’s anything I can do then I’ll do it for you.” 

  
  


Julie takes a deep breath, calming herself down. 

  
  


“Lay down with me?” 

  
  


Luke nods, and doesn’t join her until he makes sure everything was set up perfectly. He dimmed her light down to the lowest setting, grabbed her phone from her vanity so she could have it if her dad called, and let her get comfortable under her blankets. 

  
  


She had a tub of Vicks next to her bed, and a half filled tissue box right next to her pillows that made him smile. This girl was really prepared to hide this from the band. 

  
  


“Are you sure you can’t get sick?” Julie asked him, lazily tying her hair up into a loose low ponytail. There she goes again, thinking of him when all he wants to do is worry about her. 

  
  


She had two thick blankets covering her, so he only lifts the top comforter when he gets into her bed. She should be kept warm, not him. He didn’t want to make it a big deal, he was only holding her while she relaxed and got some sleep. 

  
  


Cuddling in a bed was different from a movie night in the living room. And he didn’t want to make anything weird. 

  
  


“I’m not sure,” Luke sighed as he nuzzled into the pillow next to hers, arm extended above her head so she could invite herself into his embrace. He really didn’t know what to think. Julie doesn’t hesitate this time, nuzzling into his shoulder and letting their legs touch. He can’t stop himself from letting his fingers get tangled in her curls, trying to sooth her any way he could. “But it’s worth the risk if you get some sleep.” 

  
  


“What do you think the boys are doing?” 

  
  


“They’re probably sulking that they can’t be here for an impromptu movie night.” 

  
  


Julie turns to the side to grab at a handful of tissues to clutch in her hand for emergencies, and tries to hold back her laugh so she doesn’t cough in his chest. 

  
  


Her struggle makes him smile, and he adds on quickly “Don’t even think about inviting them up here. You need to sleep, Jules.” 

  
  


When it goes silent for more than a few minutes, he thinks she fell asleep and he's left alone thinking about how much willpower it was taking to control his fast beating heart against Julie’s resting head. He wasn’t nervous about holding her, he’s done it before, but he was afraid about how easy it was to love a girl like Julie. He was sure there was no other person in the world like Julie...but loving a dream girl was the easy part. 

  
  


Luke’s hand freezes in her hair when she suddenly rests her hand on top of his chest. 

  
  


“Thank you for staying with me.” She mumbles sleepily, her voice raspy. “I really hope you don’t get sick because of me.” 

  
  


“Why is that?” He asked, closing his eyes to take in the moment. 

  
  


“I wanted you to hold me,” Julie surely knows that would make his heart flutter. She must know. “It’s selfish.” 

  
  


It was a risk. But he didn’t care. 

  
  


Luke just wanted her to feel better. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


It only takes two days. 

  
  


That’s how long it takes for him to start sniffling. 

  
  


Two days for him to start hiding coughs. 

  
  


Two days of wishing and putting all his power into staying solid so that he could feel warm and not like a cold shell of a human that somehow got sick. 

  
  


Luke was sick. 

  
  


He knew it was because of Julie. 

  
  


He doesn’t blame her. He could never blame her. 

  
  


Luke just forgot what it was like to have a cold in the past twenty five years in the afterlife. 

* * *

  
  


Luke knew he shouldn’t have told Reggie that he was coming down with something. Not only was it unheard of in the weird mix ghost world they were in, but the guy was naturally honest and he would crack the minute he went to Julie. 

  
  


Julie was slowly getting better from her cold, and Ray had kept her in bed for most of the day with cups of hot tea and soup every few hours. She couldn’t stand being away from the band and practice for so long, so she made each of the boys promise to visit her every day so they could spend time together. 

  
  


Alex was the day after his night with Julie, and then Sunday would be Reggie’s turn. 

  
  


Luke should’ve known Reggie would say something because one second he was laying down on the garage couch with two fleece blankets covering his shivering body, his sinuses feeling as if they were burning, and then his sleep was interrupted by the voice of his best friend saying that Julie wanted to see him. 

  
  


He groaned, but it only made things worse. He started another coughing fit after that. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


“I’m sorry that I got you sick.” 

  
  


“Not your fault.” Luke told her, swallowing the burn in his throat. He had sneezed more times than he could count today. “I didn’t know I could even get sick anymore.” 

  
  


Julie’s room smelled like Vicks and it was strangely comforting, so he closed his eyes and tried to breathe through his nose. 

  
  


She sniffled, then trying to nuzzle closer to him to offer him the same comfort he tried to show her a few days ago when she felt like he did. 

  
  


“Jules, don’t.” He warned softly, “It wouldn’t hurt to cuddle if we’re both sick but if I get anywhere near your hair I might suffocate with how I’m feeling right now.” 

  
  


“I’ll get my dad to bring you a cup of peppermint tea; will that help?” She offers instead. 

  
  


“I won’t take it if he doesn’t bring you one too. I could still hear you sniffling when I’m not.” 

  
  


“I’m getting _better_ Luke.” Julie argues against him weakly, huffing when she reaches for his hand under the covers to grab and hold tightly. The gesture was so sweet that it made being sick a little better. 

  
  


“We’re still stuck together until we both get better, so can you please ask your dad for two cups of tea? It’ll help us both, Jules.” Luke squeezes her hand back to further persuade her. 

  
  


“Should he bring my laptop upstairs so we could watch a movie?” 

The idea sounded heavenly but his eyes felt too heavy. 

  
  


“I’ll fall asleep.” 

  
  


“As long as I’m with you,” Julie confirmed, “I don’t care if you do. You’re in worse shape than I am, and you took care of me when I was sick so I’ll gladly put on a movie that bores you to sleep.” 

  
  


“ _Julie_.” Luke warned, threat harmless.

  
  


“I’ll be here when you wake up, I promise.” 

  
  


The last thing he remembers is the way her thumb stroked the back of his hand as he let out a loose cough that made it easier to breathe, and how her fingers traced the bracelet around his wrist. 

It was the bracelet he hadn't taken off since he got it. 

It was a present from Julie after their first gig at the Orpheum months ago. A charm bracelet that had four charms, a bass, a drum set, guitar, and a microphone. 

He held his family close to him everywhere he went, and here in Julie's soft touch, he couldn't help but wonder if they could ever be something _more_. 


End file.
